Parking attachment for automobiles



. H. s. COLOMA Y 2,685,934

PARKING ATTACHMENT FOR AUTOMOBILES A Aug. 1o, 1954 Filed March 28, 1951 IN1/EN TOR.

Patented Aug. 10, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PARKING ATTACHMENT FOR AUTOMOBILES Helodoro Santa Coloma, New York, N. Y.

Application March 28, 1951, Serial No. 218,024

3 Claims.

The invention here disclosed relates to the problem of parking automobiles at the curb where space is too limited for maneuvering in the usual way.

General objects of the invention are to provide a mechanism which, after the front wheels of the car have been entered in the space, can be actuated to lift and swing the rear end of the car into the allotted space, parallel with the curb.

Particularly it is a purpose of the invention to provide a mechanism of this character which can be applied as an attachment to a standard make of car and derive power for actuating the same from the drive gear of the car.

More specically it is an object of the invention to provide this parking mechanism in a form which can be applied to the differential housing of the rear axle and take oi power for effecting Y traversing movement in either direction required.

These objects are attained in part by providing a special cover for the differential housing which can be substituted in place of the regular cover and which forms a base for and carries the lifting and traversing mechanism and locates the pinion by which the power is taken oliD in meshing engagement with the main gear of the difierential.

Other desirable objects and features of the invention are set forth and will appear in the course of the following specification.

The drawing accompanying and forming part of the specication illustrates a present preferred embodiment of the invention. Structure, however, may be modified and changed in various ways, all within the true intent and scope of the invention as hereinafter dened and claimed.

Fig. 1 in the drawing is a diagram rillustrating the problem of parking a car in a slightly more than car length space left between two Vehicles standing at a curb, with arrows showing how with the present invention, a car may be headed into such a space and then swung laterally into parked position;

Fig. 2 is an elevation showing the mechanism applied to the rear axle housing, the full lines showing the lifting and shifting mechanism fully lowered, and the broken lines showing this mechanism raised into inactive position at the back of the axle housing;

Fig. 3 .is a broken vertical sectional view of the jack construction on substantially the plane, Yof line 3-3 of Fig. 2 but-showing the driven road wheel appearing at the left in Fig. 2 and the shaft and gearing for driving the same;

Fig. 4 is a broken horizontal sectional detail as on substantially the plane of line 4 4 of Fig. 3.

The drawing may be considered as illustrating a car of more or less conventional design having Va rear axle housing l, with an enlargement 8 enclosing the differential gears such as the main or ring gear 9 and the drive pinion I of the propeller shaft.

A conventional diierential housing such as shown usually has a removable cover at the back secured by bolts at II.

The present invention contemplates that this regular cover will be removed and be replaced by a special cover carrying the mechanism to be described, and possibly secured by the same bolts I I which fasten the plain cover in place.

This special replacement cover is designated I2 and performs all the functions of the normal cover, but additionally it carries a bearing i3 for a shaft l mounting a pinion I5 in mesh with the main gear 9 of the differential at a point back of the axle and more or less opposite the propeller shaft pinion I9.

This kprovides a power take-off from the unused portion of the main differential gear which can be utilized for effecting the traversing movement, one way or the other, according to which Way the diierential gear is driven from the transmission oi the car.

The special dilerential cover I2 is constructed with a hub extension portion I6 concentric to the added pinion shaft I4 and designed to form a bearing and swivel support for the sleeve or hub portion I'I which forms the base structure for the lifting jack.

The jack is designated I8 and is shown as of the hydraulic type involving an angularly directed cylindrical extension of the mounting sleeve l'I and a piston I9 operating in the cylinder, having a rod 20 extended laterallyv at 2I to carry the supporting and lateral shifting wheels 22, 23.

One or both wheels 22, 23, may be driven to effect the lateral shifting movement.

For greater simplicity only one of these wheels need be driven.

In the illustration the wheel 22 is shown driven from the pinion shaft Ill by bevel gear 24 in mesh with bevel gear 25 on the upper end of a shaft 26 having a sliding telescopic connection at 2 with a bevel gear 28 journaled in a bearing 29 forming part of the mounting for the wheel 22 and meshing with a pinion 30 on the axle of that wheel.

This telescopic drive shaft connection enables the lateral traversing wheel to be raised or lowered by the jack without engaging or disengaging any gears.

lThe gearing for driving the lateral traverse wheel, however, is normally disengaged and inactive during the usual driving operations of the car. This is accomplished by providing a shifta-ble clutch collar 3i keyed at 50, Fig. 3, on the pinion shaft ifi in position to couple and uncouple the pinion 2d in respect to that shaft.

Control of this clutch is effected in the present disclosure by an electromagnet 32 for operating the fork 33 controlling ythe movable clutch element 3l. A spring may be provided for uncoupling this clutch and the magnet used. to hold the clutchengaged only for the short periods for which it may be used.

The jack structure is swung on its swivel mounting from an inactive position at the back of the rear axle, shown by the vdotted `lines in Fig. 2, down into the active lifting and traversing position by consisting, in the present disclosure, of a hydraulic cylinder 3d swiveled on the axle housing or other available support, at containing a piston .3E having .a rod 3l' pivotally connected at 38 with an angularly projecting its of the mounting sleeve -fl-.

rihis hydraulic power cylinder has connections ll, fil, by which actuating fluid may be admitted and exhausted, with suitable valve mechanism for effecting such controls.

Similarly, the hydraulic jack has suitable connections 42, and controls, with pump mechanism for both hydraulic elements, power or hand-driven, as desired.

rlhe dotted lines in Fig. 2 show how the lifting and traversing mechanism is stowed .away in elevate.A position at the baci; of the rear axle housing so as not to interfere with all normal driving operations of the car.

To effect parking in a small space between adjoining cars or other objects suchas represented in Fig. 1, the car equipped with this invention may be driven head-on into such Aspace and the rear end then swung into the space, close up to the curb, by first operating power cylinder 34 as in 2, to swing the jack down into `Vertical position, and then operating the jack to lower the side traverse wheels 2f, 23, in engagement with the road surface and to effectlifting of the rear end into supported relationronsaid lateral- 1y directed wheels.

With the wheels 22, 23, supporting :the rear end of the car7 the magnet 32 maybe energized to the pinion 2d on shaft I4, and then the clutch or other control governing lforward and reverse drive of the car may be actuated t0 effect forward or reverse turning of the differential gear 9 for operating the driven traverse wheel 22 to swing the car end in thedirection seiected determined by the direction of yrotation of the dinerential gear.

To drive off the differential gear in this way, such gear should be free to be turned bythe engine in either direction.

To assure this condition 'the line '44 supplying the hydraulic actuating fluid to one of the rear wheel brakes Fig. 2, may be equipped with a magnet valve it or equivalent Aconnected to be actuated te release this one brake when the mechanism is set, ready 'to effect lateral shift of the car.

Thus this valve @i6 may be arranged to be actuated to release this one brake at the time be readilyapplied as a complete `parking attach- Ament for a car of conventional construction.

The power for effecting the actual shifting is taken off from the unused back portion of the main differentialgcar and is controllable to shift Vin either direction through the conventional forward .and'reverse drive controls of the car.

While a jack of the hydraulic type has been illustrated, it is contemplated that various mechanical forms of jacks may be employed.

What is claimed is:

1. A parking attachment for .automobiles com prising a .substitute vdifferential cover .plate constructed Vto replace the cover plate normally resent on the differential housing of a conventional motor car and in that position to cover the main differential gear present in such cars, said cover vplate having a rearwardly extending hub, `a jacl; having a companion hub portion swiveled on said cover plate hub and enabling said jack to be swung from a raised to a lowered position at the back of the dierential housing, said jack having an extensible member and a road wheel on said extensible member and whereby the jack. in the lowered kposition may operate to `lift vthe ydifferential housing on said road wheel, meansconnected with said jack for rocking said jack on the hub `of the cover plate to effect lowering of the .jack into operative position and raising of vtheja-ck into inoperative position,

a power talzeeoff shaft journaled in the cover plate and `extending rearwardly in concentric relation vthrough `the cover Vplate hub, a pinion on the inner-end-of said shaft for driven engagement with the main differential gear present in conventional motor cars, road wheel driving shaft l.journaled on the ,jack, an extensible driving connection extending from said road wheel driving shaft to Vsaid `road wheel, `and drive, gearing fromsaidtake-ofi shaft to the upper end of said road wheel driving shaft and including clutch Ameans for vdrivingly connecting and disconnecting `said power take-off shaft and road wheel driving shaft and so that said road wheel maybe-operated in opposite directions from the the main differential gear according to the direction in which said main differential gear is operated.

2. A parking attachment for automobiles compricing a substitute differential cover plate con- Vstructed lto replace A`the cover plate lnormally presenten the differential vhousing of a convene tional motor car and adapted to be positioned thereby over the -main differential gear norma-lly present -in such fhousing, cover kplate having a rearwardly extending hub, a jack having a companion hub portion at the upper end of the same fswiveled.onsaidcover plate hub and enabling .said jack to be swung from a raised to a lowered position .at the back of the diiferential lhousing, said jacl; having an extensible .member below said hub portion, road wheels carried by said extensible member and spaced to lopposite Vsides of the hub center and whereby when lowered into engagement with the road said wheels willfsupport the rear axle ina manner fre-e to swivel about the hub center, means connected with said jack for rocking said jack on the hub of the cover plate to eiect lowering of the road wheels into operative relation and raising of said road wheels into inoperative position, gearing for driving at least one of said road wheels from the main diierential gear including a power take-off shaft journaled in the cover plate in concentric relation to the cover plate hub, a pinion on the inner end of said shaft for driven engagement with the aforementioned main diierential gear, drive gearing extending from said shaft to at least one of said road wheels and control means interposed in said drive gearing for rendering said drive gear ing operative or inoperative.

3. A parking attachment for automobiles comprising a substitute differential cover plate constructed to replace the cover plate normally present on the differential housing of a conventional motor car and adapted to be positioned thereby over the main differential gear normally present in such housing, said cover plate having a rearwardly extending hub, a jack having a companion hub portion at the upper end of the same swiveled on said cover plate hub and enabling said jack to be swung from a raised to a lowered position at the back of the differential housing, said jack having an extensible member below said hub portion, road wheels carried by said extensible member and spaced to opposite sides of the hubcenter and whereby when lowered into engagement with the road said wheels Will support the rear axle in a manner free to swivel about the hub center, means connected with said jack for rocking said jack on the hub of the cover plate to effect lowering of the road wheels into operative relation and raising of said road Wheels into inoperative position, gearing for driving at least one of said road wheels from the main difierential gear including a power take-ofi shaft. journaled in the cover plate in concentric relation to the cover plate hub, a pinion on the inner end of said shaft for driven engagement with the aforementioned main dierential gear, drive gearing extending from said shaft to at least one of said road Wheels and control means interposed in said drive gearing for rendering said drive gearing operative or inoperative, and brake releasing means arranged for connection with the wheel brake on a diierential housing for effecting release of at least one wheel brake of a differential housing supported by said road Wheels.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,651,727 Pirquet Dec. 6, 1927 1,709,421 Wiley Apr. 16, 1929 1,794,675 Dennert et al. Mar. 3, 1931 1,884,933 Walker Oct. 25, 1932 2,006,242 Imai June 25, 1935 2,024,844 Berman Dec. 17, 1935 2,054,842 Walker Sept. 22, 1936 2,136,570 Walker Nov. 15, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 336,723 Great Britain Oct. 23, 1930 

